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Employee-generated video content is video content featuring your employees, in which they discuss their on-the-job and overall experiences within your organization. It typically comes in the form of:
Attracting top-tier talent to your organization often proves to be quite challenging. Doing so depends upon gaining the candidate’s trust and showing them that your organization is the right one for them.
In fact, job seekers read an average of six company reviews before forming an opinion about a company. Potential applicants are also three times more likely to trust employee reviews over statements made in an actual job posting.
It’s becoming ever more crucial, then, to include your current employees in your recruitment processes.
This is where employee-generated video content comes in.
Employee-generated video content is a key part of modern recruitment marketing processes.
Here, we’ll discuss the essential information you need to know about EGVC, such as:
Let’s dive in.
Overall, employee-generated content is used to recruit new, highly-skilled talent to your organization.
The main idea behind using EGVC is to go beyond the traditional job posting and allow your listing to stand out from your competitors’.
Specifically, employee-generated video content is used within job listings to:
Employee-generated video content can be used on a variety of channels and platforms, such as:
This video content is not meant to replace traditional, text-based job listings, but to supplement them in the hopes of preparing applicants to take a productive next step on their way to employment.
Employee testimonial videos are incredibly valuable to recruiters for a few reasons.
For one, it allows you to deliver additional information to job candidates regarding what the position entails, and what to expect when working within your organization.
(At the very least, it’s an alternate way of communicating the info within the job post. Ideally, your video content will provide more in-depth information, as mentioned above.)
Using EGVC also allows you to put an actual human face to your job posts, and to your organization’s overall web presence. Not only will this allow you to stand out from your competitors, but it will also add the personable touch the modern candidate looks for when on the hunt for a new job.
Perhaps most importantly, using employee-generated content will increase your chances of attracting best-fit candidates from the get-go.
With more information on-hand from the start, potential applicants can self-qualify themselves before reaching out to your recruitment team. Looking at this another way, those who might not be a good fit for the position (or for your company) likely won’t reach out if your video content doesn’t further pique their interest.
Those who do apply for the position will be much more informed and knowledgeable from the start — making the screening and hiring process much easier for your team.
Case in point, companies that use employee-generated video content:
Overall, your team will spend less time and energy sifting through poor-fitting applications and interviews — and can instead focus on bringing the right candidates onboard within your organization.
Creating employee-generated video content needs to be a coordinated effort involving multiple members of your organization — each playing a key role in the process.
First and foremost, your recruitment team will need to define the focus of the content to be created, as well as the optimal format to use when creating it.
This may mean:
Your recruitment team will also need to identify who, specifically, the video content will focus on. Obviously, you’ll be focusing on a specific position (i.e., one that closely aligns with the position being advertised) — but you’ll also want to consider which employee(s) would be the best spokespeople for the specific content in question.
On that note, the employees you feature in your EGVC should be those who:
Once you have an idea of what you want your content to look like, and who you want it to feature, you may need to enlist the help of your marketing and creative teams. These teams can help bring your idea to life, both by creating the content in question — and by determining the most effective ways to present and distribute it to your intended audience.
(Note: iCIMS’ employee testimonial video tool makes it easy for all team members to create content without help from their creative team. Still, you may want to run your content by your marketing content creators before publishing it.)
Though your EGVC will feature specific employees based on the position being advertised, bringing it to your potential candidates is a team effort. With buy-in from the right departments, your employee-generated video content will have the impact you intended.
Of course, employee-generated video content needs to be created strategically to be successful.
That said, let’s take a look at the best practices to follow when developing EGVC to attract new candidates.
Nail down the content and context for your EGVC
Though your EGVC should provide a candid look into what it’s like to work for your organization, this doesn’t mean it should be created off the cuff.
Rather, you need to have a clear purpose and focus for each piece of EGVC you create.
As mentioned above, this may mean developing specific interview questions to discuss with your employee or creating an outline of topics and/or points to address throughout the video. While you don’t necessarily want to have a script for your content, your employee should have a clear idea of what they’re going to say once you start recording.
It’s also important to understand the context in which you’ll be presenting your EGVC. It’s crucial to align your messaging based on the platform or channel you’re delivering your video content, as you want said content to add to the candidate’s experience — not distract from it.
Showcase your company culture
A major goal of employee-generated video content is to show potential candidates what working for your company is like.
Your EGVC shouldn’t be scripted and should allow the employee to speak freely about their experiences within your organization. While you’ll likely need to edit the content for the sake of brevity, this will come after you’ve let your employee say what they want to say about your company.
On that note, you may need to guide your employees toward discussions around their actual on-the-job experiences. However, there’s a fine line between guiding them to speak freely and leading them to saying only what you want them to say. If your video content seems forced, your potential candidates will notice — and it won’t reflect well on your company.
Finally, you’ll want to create multiple videos featuring multiple employees — even if you’re only presenting one at a time. This will allow potential hires to see your organization from a variety of perspectives, which can strengthen their trust in your company from the start.
Focus on the technical aspects
Lastly, let’s talk about the technical aspects of your employee-generated video content.
High-quality production
This likely goes without saying, but if your EGVC doesn’t look like it was created by professionals, it’s not going to do much for your company’s reputation.
For starters, you should be using professional audio/visual equipment to create this content. Luckily, iCIMS’ Video Studio offers an affordable, user-friendly way for your employees to create content without the help of your creative team.
It’s also important to maintain a professional recording environment, as well. A few keys, here:
Optimal presentation
When creating your EGVC, it’s important to know where and how you’ll ultimately be presenting it.
For one thing, this will dictate the optimal length and depth of the content in question. For example, you may want your email-specific videos to be shorter and more to-the-point, while your on-site videos will have more room for expansive discussion.
(Note: This is just an example situation. What works best for your audience will depend on their preferences and other contextual information.)
You also want to ensure your video content’s visual theme and aesthetic feel matches that of its placement. Basically, this means making sure the content “fits” wherever you’re presenting it — and that it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb.
No matter how valuable the information being presented may be, it needs to be presented well to make a difference to your candidate’s experience. Otherwise, they may not even engage with your EGVC in the first place.
Closed captioning and video scripts
Once you’ve created your employee-generated video content, it’s vital that you make it as accessible as possible to all potential candidates.
Adding closed captioning is a key step here. For one, it ensures that individuals with hearing impairments will be able to engage with and consume your EGVC with ease. Closed captioning can also help reinforce your message to all audience members. Finally, those who may not be able to listen to your video now will still be able to engage with your content.
You may also choose to include a transcript or text-based summary of your video content. For example, if conducting an interview with a current employee, you may allow candidates to download a PDF version of the interview. This, again, will reinforce your message — and will enable your audience to digest the content in the most effective way for them.
Authentic testimonials from your current team members can help you catch the attention of potential employees — and allow you to build trust in them from the start of your relationship.
Putting these testimonials into video format adds yet another layer of engagement and trust, as it gives prospective hires a true-to-life glimpse of what it’s like to work for your company.
iCIMS’ Video Studio software can help get your EGVC campaigns started on the right foot — allowing you to attract more (and more valuable) talent to your team with ease.
Check us out to learn more and schedule a demo.